RTWR PIREPS #1

[Great Ozzie 101]

A Dark Trip to Old Clark AFB (RPLC)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185296.jpg

[Great Ozzie 101]

Position and Hold, Reggio Calabria (LICR)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185297.jpgNothing But Blue Skies Abovehttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185298.jpgLand Ho!http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185299.jpgSafe at Benina (HLLB)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185300.jpg

[DarkCharizma 10]

...well, maybe not entirely. I'm still shaking a bit from the leg, so you'll have to forgive me if my spelling's terrible in this post.It all started earlier today when we were discussing the upcoming airports, abd the fact that we were going to be flying into the last few ones at night. Especially the last one, the corridor entry, was a difficult one, because it didn't have any lighting. So we didn't want to fly a fast jet in there. We decided to fly to a nearby lighted airport with an ILS (FYWH), and have an 160 nm leg to the corridor entry (FYWB). Now I decided to raise my voice, saying: "We could do a helicopter flight there". Big (well, at least a small) mistake. Mike M and Harvey (or Bry, maybe both, can't remember) agreed that it was a good idea. When we got closer, Bry pointed out that when it was dark on that route, it was really, really, as in pitch black, dark. He couldn't make out where the horizon was, so he opted out of flying the leg in the helicopter. I modified my brightness settings a bit on my screen, and could just make out the horizon, so I told the other guys I thought I could make it. They thought (at least I think so, no one objected completely to the idea at least) that if I thought I could make it I should give it a go. So I set up for the leg.Then when I started the Duenna with my helicopter, the Blackhawk, loaded, I noticed the "A/C Type OK" box was yellow. I loaded the default Jetranger to see if it was something in common to all helicopters, but that one showed green. So I opened up the aircraft.cfg for the Blackhawk, and noticed it had "Jet" as engine type. To make sure it was OK, I contacted Mike about this, and he contacted the Executive Committee. He thought it woiuld be ok, and sure enough, the decision was that it was legal. Just to be safe, Harvey flew a Hornet over to the destination as wingman, in case I didn't make it.Now to the leg itself. Take-off was no problem, but as soon as I didn't see the airport anymore, the darkness started to be a real problem. I wasn't paying enough attention to the vertical speed, focusing more on the airspeed. When I notcied I was sinking pretty fast, I pulled back on the stick, and just about then I heard something that sounded a lot like the wheels touching down. I'm not sure if they actually touched the ground, but it sure felt so. Luckily, the aircraft wasn't damaged, and there was no crash, and the Duenna was still green, so I could continue. I promptly climbed to 8000 ft to make sure I was a long way off the ground. At this altitude the Blackhawk isn't really fast, and I was barely able to keep it at 120 KIAS.After a while flying at 8000, I notcied that it had an Radar Altitude gauge. Kind of wish I had noticed that earlier (which I think I did, I just forgot it was there). I was then able to go a bit lower, to get a bit more speed, always trying to be at least 1500 ft above the ground. When I got closer to the airport and the coast, the ground altitude got lower, and in the end I was able to cruise at 5000 ft, which seemed to be a good altitude for the Blackhawk.Descent went without much difficulty. When I got really close to the airport, and landing, my heart really started beating. For once I was happy I don't have ActiveSky, since FS9 weather was clear with no winds while ActiveSky had lightning storms. Part of the reaseon I chose the Blackhawk is because it has wheels, so you don't have to be in a perfect hover to land it. I slowed down enough that I felt comfortable setting it down, I was a little bit higher than I thought when I dropped the throttle, but luckily it just resulted in a small bounce followed by the chopper setting down nicely on the runway. The baton was dropped, the Duenna showed green and I posted baton free with my entire body shaking from the experience. I think it's one of the toughest and most exhausting things I've done in Flight Simulator, ever. But it all went well in the end, and I handed the baton to the corridor flyers in a helicopter for the second year in a row ;)Wow, that became a really long post. I'm going to stop now.Thanks for trusting me everyone :)KlasseEdit: I'm afraid I don't have any pictures, there wasn't really anything to see.

[Guest Windryder]

Ok so I had just done my wing flight; Bry had landed he was Baton and I felt relieved; he posted good and I was behind enough to ensure valid posts etc since the last time I just took it for granted; I wont do that again; and as such, I came in at an angle over the runway and thought I could line up; I had done it before but I dropped and crashed; ok since as Wing it didnt count anyways.But in the long run, it did count ! It made my fellow players realize that even though the first flight for me was all instruments practically (even though I crashed on landing - maybe I was tired from gauge glancing for an hour as the Citx demanded slight corrections every minute to maintain altitude and speed; BTW the Citx for me handled well; although the Lear handles a little bit better and the Fsim models really equate the Lear and the Citx about the same for me due to my experience.So with the second nighttime jet leg with successful landing out of the way, I was very anticipating of the chopper run; I felt we needed not really for the leg, and time wasnt even an issue; sometimes we must push ourselves over small limitations; it is then we can settle back afterwards and start the new learning curve!I have encountered a few new challenges here, with awesome pilots with realtime hours and simmers with many hundreds of hours; I am overcoming those challenges and am ready to meet new ones; not just in flightsim and flying, but in other things I do; it is programs like this that can do this for you.Then we have those moments when we 'fail' to our teammates; it is embarrising; some of it is funny; some of it is comraderie; and we all can live the tales and do it all over again.We, the new RTW racers, are gaining a newer insight into a world of confusion and perfection, and man vs machine; in the end, it is us who learn, and learn, and learn; life is about learning.It is not that we make mistakes; it is that we understand them; and that my friends, is how we learn (albeit not the best way); when we make no mistakes; there is nothing more for us to learn.The best pilots in the world are confronted with a myriad of electronics that they depend on with their lives; I have lived, been around, and worked on such equipment as an avionics and electronics communications tech for over 20 years. I love electronics, avionics; I can make machines come alive; and that is what we do.The dream to fly is in all of us here, and I am one of the lucky few who almost made Private; and I also almost had a few mishaps too; I wasnt cut out for it; but I learned to live with my limitations; I know what I can and cannot do; and now, I will try more thanks to this group and the support given.You dont want me to get long winded !I have tons more respect for previous racers here; I am learning now just what this race is all about: FLYING !Maybe we wont win the race this year; maybe we will; but one thing is for sure: we have won friendships; and no one can take those trophies away.Now Let's Kick Those Tires And Light Them Fires !Windflyah

[jt_williams 291]

Agggggh!!! Four long hours of corridor flying end in a crash due to pilot error. Thank goodness for the Eamonn who succeeded getting down in the dark. I had done some practice touch and go's in the PMDG at FHAW before the actual fight and felt comfortable getting the 744 down but it was day when I practiced. It was a very different experience in the dark. The approach was smooth with the aircraft comfigured for landing: flaps, gear down, autobrakes armed, spoilers armed. Everything went as planned up until I was about 5 miles out. I disconnected the autopilot but forgot to switch off the auto throttle. As I got closer I could see that I was not well aligned with the runway and I was high. I banked and pushed the nose down a bit. It is at this point that I should have done a missed approach, but I was focused on getting down and continued the landing attempt. I was building speed so I cut the throttle - with no effect - because the autothrottle was still connected. Banking wildly I was able to get over the runway but hit it hard resulting in the crash.I am just not very good at night flying this year. First the Avanti fiasco at Iwo Jima and now again at Ascension. I definitely need to work on practicing missed approaches. Jeff

[Eamonn Watson 32]

Well that was fun... I got all set up for a long 4 hour flight that in the end (I thought) wasn't going to really count for anything. Well evertyhing was good for the takeoff.. DarkC landed his chopper sucessfully and both myself and Jeff took off without any problems to head out for our long flight over the ocean.While cruizing I spent time in the cabin with my 0 passengers, and 0 cargo and no-one on the plane but myself. How boring.. hehehe, had some grub and watched some TV.. (Specially equipped 767)..Well as I approached the Ascension ISlands I was listening out for Jeff as be began his approach. His bird was a little faster than mine having 4 engines and all. Anyway I figured he would land and the baton would continue on before I even got there.Dead silence for several minutes as we eagerly awaited the baton's arrival in FHAW. We all didn't want to have to repeat this leg."I've Crashed!!!!!!!!" Echos out over the airwaves.. OMG, are you serious?? what the h-e-l-l (wierd?) happened.. Murphy strikes again apparently autothrottle issues. Where have I heard this before??? hahaha..Now the onus is on me to land this puppy. I set up for my approach to runway 32 which will give me a 7 knot tailwind, as I approach 5000 feet I switch off the autopilot but leave the autothrottle on. I am not quite in line with the runway so I make small adjustments to get lined up with the runway.When I reach about 3000' I disengage the autothrottle and start to bring her in. This runway wasn't as wide as I thought it was and no centerline lights, no ils, big mountain on the north side, in the dark.500, 300, 200, 100, 50, 30, 20, 10, touchdown.. I Bring her in smooth as ice, gently retard the throttles and stop the bird in the center of the runway next to Jeff's burning 747.. If only I had my camera.. heheSorry you had troubles Jeff, better luck next time. Glad I was able to bring the baton in and good luck guys on the way to Rio..I'm outta here, need some sleep.. Flying really is hours and hours of boredom followed by seconds of sheer terror. We really didn't need to refly that leg.Blue skies...

[Guest sfoofficer]

It's been a few years since I covered this kind of distance, and back then, it was with the benefit of the Concorde.Ascension Island to Rio, flying wing for Stone. After a little discussion, we elected for the Citation X for the baton carrier to try to make up some. I stayed in my tried and true PMDG 747-4 for this segment across the southern portion of the pond.There's something to be said about being bored on a race flight; it means that everything is going extremely well. The highlights - - We took off.- I passed him.- He passed me.- We descended.- We landed.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185319.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185321.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185320.jpgFour hours later, we handed off the baton to the next team, then signed off. A welcome change to yesterday, where almost everything went wrong. Not today, friend. Smooth as silk, baby.

[MM 422]

A real pleasure to fly Harvey's wing. Smooth easy run through clear skies. Only problem was that the flight plan tweaker (cough, cough) forgot to include Paraguay. Happily, we caught it and Buzz and Bry were able to react quickly to integrate the requirement. Would have been somewhat embarrassing to seemingly finish the race in Seattle...only to have to fly to South America again.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185332.jpg

[cbtaylor 15]

Well, I had to work this week and thought I'd have to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines. However, when I got home last night I received an urgent request to fly the baton from northern Chile to Peru. Fortunately I was able to make arrangements to get down there rapidly through clandestine means. Boy, was Stone surprised to see me sitting on the taxiway in the warmed-up Hornet waiting for him. "How'd you get down here from DC so fast?" "Eddies in the space-time continuum," I replied. "Who's Eddie, and what's he doing there?" "Nevermind," I said, "Just toss that thing up here and I'll get going."It was a pretty smooth flight up the coast once I got up to FL280, with a nice if mild tailwind component. I felt very comfortable knowing JT was backing me up, and I managed to squeeze up to 450 kts of groundspeed out of the old gal. I noticed that the terrain color chart was maxed out on the Sandel TAWS gauge, and could see the dark mass of some of the higher peaks poking up above the clouds. This is definitely no place to have an inflight emergency, especially with divert fields few and far between.Fortunately the flight was uneventful, until I arrived over Lima to discover a fairly low ceiling. I nervously cycled through the downwind and base legs with just a few glimpses of the field. With the TAWS gauge blaring "Sink Rate! Sink Rate!" and "Minimums" in my ear I held a fairly steep approach for a dramatic flair (literally and figuratively!) and stalled about 5 feet above the runway before I settled into a nearly 3-point landing. Whew! Well, never a dull moment, I always say. :)Go Avsim!Craig

[MM 422]

...the pilots of two Vega Winnie Mae's would be a pair of kings.Nice trip. Starting in a snowstorm at Salt Lake City. Jeff and I are in the Vega, piloted by Wiley Post.After climbing out over the Great Salt Lake, the weather cleared up. Lots of clear, crystal views of the jackrabbits below. Not sure anyone else lives here. Jeff pointed out that UT-USA has a great rendition of the US roadway system. No roads below.Nice safe landing and got a chance to see the Extra flight.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185390.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185391.jpg

[MM 422]

Departed Punta Arenas heading north for Esquel's SAVE. Nice airport right in the rain shadow of the Andes. (One-way ILS...for a good reason.)Harvey took off as wingman. But very soon it became clear that I had the slower Hornet. Or that he is the superior pilot. The screenshot below shows the Rozier speedsters, one in the fast Hornet and the other in a CitationX.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185392.jpg

[Guest]

Low and slow from Sanderson to Olympia in a Dragon Rapide, ferrying some dignitaries.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185398.jpg

[Guest radialronnie]

Some shots of the P-39, the Bearcat and a Avsim Airlines 737.

[svenks 4]

BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCHhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185445.jpgEscorting BRY on the longest normal leg - in HEAVY headwinds!And at that time, bry didn't know that the vis would be nil...http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185446.jpgYou can see the ground from FL250, but down there it was SOUPhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185452.jpgKlas/DC in a successful hover in the Cessna Blackhawkhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185453.jpgDC in a not-so-successful hoverhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185454.jpgThe last leg, Cessna formationhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185455.jpgAt the foot of the Control Tower at Boeing FieldEnd of race

[svenks 4]

..."How can you spend so much time doing this?", show them these pictures.Sunrise in South America, Bry doing wing.BRGDSSven Sorensen, EKCHhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185456.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185457.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/185458.jpg